3PL Customers Confident About Adapting to Tariffs
Study Data Shows an Alternate Sourcing Destination Is the No. 1 Near-Term Strategy in Dealing With Shifting US Trade Policy
Key Takeaways:
- A new Third-Party Logistics Study found 14% of shippers and 33% of 3PLs are extremely confident in adapting to Trump administration tariffs, unveiled Oct. 7 at a supply chain conference.
- Shippers are pursuing alternative sourcing and modeling tariff risk, while 41% of 3PLs reported no near-term tariff strategies and many plan to source domestically.
- The study showed shippers are more willing than 3PLs to absorb tariff costs, and outsourcing growth eased to 81% from 87% in 2024 as partnerships consolidate.
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OXON HILL, Md. — Some 14% of shippers serviced by third-party logistics providers are extremely confident in their ability to adapt to the shifting sands of U.S. trade policy and myriad tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, .
Approximately 38% of shippers are confident about their ability to thrive, while 48% are somewhat confident, respondents of the 30th annual Third-Party Logistics Study said. And no shippers were not so confident or not at all confident in their ability to navigate the tariffs, according to the study unveiled Oct. 7 at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ Edge 2025 conference.
However, 6% of 3PLs who responded to the same question told study authors led by Penn State University Professor of Supply Chain Management C. John Langley that they were not so confident about adapting to the tariffs. The rest of the 3PLs were more evenly split in their confidence about coming months, with 33% extremely confident about being able to adapt to the tariffs, 28% very confident and 33% somewhat confident.
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Optimism is likely being fueled partly by lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, when vulnerabilities in global supply chains and lean inventories were exposed, the study authors said.
Shippers said their top three near-term tariff strategies were leveraging alternative sourcing destinations (45%), finding alternative foreign suppliers (40%) and modeling tariff risk (40%).
Among 3PLs, however, the highest-ranked answer to the same question was not doing anything, with 41% having no plans to implement any near-term tariff strategies. The same number of 3PL respondents (41%) said they plan to source their requirements domestically, while 35% plan to buy from premium domestic suppliers.
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Looking longer term, more shippers seem to be willing to take a wait-and-see approach, with 30% saying they have no long-term tariff strategies in place. An equal number (30%) plan to re-evaluate their product portfolio, while 25% see re-establishing their manufacturing base as key, and 20% plan to manufacture domestically. The lowest-ranked answer at 5% of respondents was postponing final assembly.
On the 3PL side, some 47% said they planned to re-evaluate their product portfolio as a long-term response, while 29% said they had no plans.
Tariffs also are altering the way executives approach cost management.
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Shippers seem more inclined than 3PLs to bite the bullet on absorbing the added costs of tariffs. Some 71% of shippers expressed a willingness to eat a small percentage of tariff-related costs, while only 33% of 3PLs offered the same answer.
The highest-ranked answer among 3PLs at 44% was that the company was unwilling to absorb any additional costs. That compared with just 24% of shippers providing the same answer.
These shifts reflect both opportunity and complexity. Moving production is not a quick fix, and reconfiguring infrastructure can take six months to over a year, the study authors noted.
“Further research should add to our understanding of the long-term impacts that tariffs may have on supply chains. This may help to identify and better define what 3PLs can do to ease this transition if supply chains need to shift,” the authors wrote.
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Penske Logistics Senior Vice President of Sales Stacy Schlachter told conference attendees that the key to retaining customers for 3PLs should be meeting day-to-day goals and remaining customer obsessed.
Penske Logistics ranks No. 19 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America, No. 4 among dedicated contract carriers and No. 13 among dry storage warehousing. It also ranks No. 12 on the TT Top 100 list of for-hire carriers.
Parts of the 3PL marketplace are struggling while others are thriving, Langley said. And although the use of outsourced services remains widespread, the percentage of shippers reporting increased outsourcing declined to 81% from 87% in 2024, the data shows. The decrease reflects the success of 3PLs, Langley noted.
Both shippers and 3PLs report greater partner consolidation, suggesting earlier optimization efforts are maturing, according to the study.
Meanwhile, 52% of shippers intend to rebid their business at the end of their current contracts. Profitability at 56% is the top reason why 3PLs end contracts, with the second-highest reason being organizational change at 17%.
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